Hands Down
by Sultan Peppershaker
Summary: Cause when I looked into your eyes, and you dared to stare right back, you should've said "Nice to meet you, I'm your other half..." - M. Thiessen


Wow, lots of cobwebs have grown here, eh? This place is kind of desolate... oh well. Thanks for humouring me and reading this. Drop a review like a bad habit, willya?

Lots of changes here. But I won't go into it here, so if you really want to read about that, check out my profile!

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"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the graduating class of H. G. Wells Junior/Senior High School of 2009!"

The crowd burst into cheers as the seniors all hurled their caps into the air, in celebration not only of the end of their high school career, but the start of their new lives.

"Where's my hat?" Owen asked as he looked around at everyone else, many of whom were picking up caps.

"Dude," Phil said, disbelievingly, "just grab any old one. They're all the same."

Owen's eyes lit up at this suggestion, it having not dawned on him before that. He knelt down and proudly picked one up and, dusting it off, followed Phil and Keely to find their other friends.

(When he released it prematurely, Owen's hat in fact sailed forward instead of up, and struck one of the foreign exchange students in the back of the head.)

"Brace yourself," Phil warned Owen. "High-pitched screaming imminent."

The two of them cupped their hands over their ears just as Tia ran over to Keely and wrapped her in a hug, both squealing loudly. "I can't believe we did it! No more English! No more Hackett!"

"I know!" Keely gushed, overflowing with excitement, "This is unbelievable! I can't even... this is just too amazing!"

Seth came over as Keely and Tia were discussing their plans for the first week of summer, and Owen gave him a congratulatory fist bump ("Seth, man, you MUST POUND THIS!") for graduating as class valedictorian.

"Yeah, dude, you're a machine," Phil said. "There's nothing you can't do!"

"Ah, guys, I don't know if I'd go that far," Seth replied, laughing. He looked up, and happened to glance Via at the same time Owen did.

"Uh oh, cover your ears," Owen commanded upon seeing her. Keely and Tia looked over at Via, almost as if en cue, and they both screamed again as they ran to hug her. Via flinched slightly from the noise, then laughed softly and hugged them both.

"Somebody's a bit excited, I take it!" she said after being released. Keely and Tia looked like Via had just killed their parents.

"How can you not be excited?" Tia demanded. "This is what I've been looking forward to since I came to this school!"

"Maybe that's it, though," Keely said in an aside to Tia, "She came here later, so she didn't have as much time to grow to hate it as we did..."

"Oh, no, she had plenty of time."

"Well, I'm just saying–"

"Look," Via interrupted, "Whatever the reason, I'm just saying that you two will look back at some time in the future, and you'll miss these days. So don't get too excited just yet."

The two of them looked at Via disapprovingly until Keely broke the silence. "Wow, Captain Bringdown..."

"Welcome to Killing the Moment, starring Olivia Blackburn, jeez."

"Yeah, way to go, Buzz Ki–"

"I get it!" Via burst out, getting a little fed up. "Look, what are you all doing later tonight?"

"Um..." Keely bit her lip, still a bit shocked from Via's flare-up. "Oh! Later tonight! Um, we were gonna be at Tia's. Like, all of us. And a few other people were gonna come by. Will you be there?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll be sure to stop by. I can't believe how fast this year has passed! Pretty soon we'll all be going to university..."

"I know!" Keely gushed. "I can't wait to start journalism school, it's gonna be so amazing!"

"Kind of odd to believe we won't be seeing each other every day like this anymore..." Via sighed wistfully as she looked around at her group of friends, reminding herself it wouldn't be the last time she saw them all. "But, chin up and all that, there's still a lot of summer for us! Now, my parents wanted some pictures of all of us together, so group up now!"

The six of them all crowded together and struck a few poses for their families to take pictures of. Tia, caught up in the excitement of the day, didn't even seem to mind when Owen put his arm around her for one of them.

The rest of the afternoon passed like a blur to all of them. Hugs were given; numbers were exchanged; cars were covered in shaving cream; Owen was bombarded with silly string; promises to hang out over the summer were made (some of which would be inevitably broken); all the while the sun steadily plummeted towards the horizon.

Once everyone got back to Tia's house (except Via, who was stopping at a few other places beforehand), time seemed to get under control again. Keely stirred the ice in her kiwi lemonade as she stared vacantly ahead and asked what had been bugging her all day.

"Did that seriously just happen? Are we officially done with high school?"

Tia laughed and pinched Keely's arm rather forcefully. Keely yelped in pain. "Well, you're sure not dreaming," she observed, taking a sip of her punch.

With every guest that dropped by Tia's house, Keely wondered if it was the last time she'd be seeing them. Keeping this in mind, she made sure to give every one of her good friends a hug, and promised herself she would see each of them at least once more before she moved for college.

"Hey, sorry I'm so late," Via said as she let herself in the front door. "I just–" She got awkwardly cut off as Keely locked her into another hug. "Glad to see you too, Keely..."

"Sorry, Vee, just getting a little emotional tonight. I blame you and that dumb stuff you said earlier!" She laughed, trying to convince herself it didn't bother her as much as it seemed to.

"Well, it's true, though, you admit?" Via smirked as Keely sighed and dragged her off to talk with some other friends.

Time passed, as it often does. Owen hit on some of Tia's friends, and got a drink poured on him after one particularly awful opening line (he did, however, manage to get two phone numbers); Tia got upset with him for hitting on her friends; Phil and Keely disappeared while the two of them argued; Tia ushered them out of the guest room when she realized they weren't downstairs...

"Um, Phil, you've got..." Via giggled and pointed at his mouth, which was slightly reddened, as the three of them came downstairs.

"Mm. Thanks," he said, wiping his mouth gently with his sleeve. Keely pretended to be insulted. Phil raised an eyebrow at her.

"Anyway, Tia, I think I'd better be off now," Via said, looking at her cell phone. "Mum doesn't really like when I'm late."

"Oh, okay! Yeah, I'd hate to get you in trouble... so I guess I'll see you this weekend?"

Via nodded and smiled. "I still can't quite believe it..."

Tia giggled. "Don't get all Lifetime movie on me. Come here." Tia gave her another hug, which caused Owen to smile slightly. Keely saw this and rolled her eyes.

"Typical," she muttered, shaking her head.

Just about everybody had already left at that point. Phil sat down on the loveseat in the living room and Keely squeezed next to him. Owen laid down on the couch, and Tia shoved his legs off so she could sit down. Seth came in from the kitchen, glass of water in hand. "Oh, did Via leave?"

Tia nodded groggily. She hadn't even realized it was already past midnight.

"What are we all gonna do without each other?" she asked. "This is so... weird!"

Keely giggled and reached over to grab Tia's hand. "It's gonna be okay! First off, we have the whole summer to waste before we even have to worry about that... and it's not like we're all moving that far away or anything!"

"Yeah," Phil chipped in, trying to keep the conversation from getting awkward, "we'll totally hook up over the summer." Keely gave him a disapproving look. "Wh- I didn't mean like _that_...."

"Well, we better. You guys are like my second family! My sister... my big brother... my cousin... and that weird uncle that you hope doesn't show up," she said, pointing to Keely, Phil, Seth, and Owen, respectively. Owen raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well, Tia," Keely said soothingly, "just know that we're gonna be friends for a lot longer. This isn't goodbye."

Tia smiled up at Keely. Phil groaned at how much the situation felt like a campy '80s movie.

"Well, goodbye," Seth announced, after an awkward silence, "I better get home too..."

The group made plans to hang out over the weekend, said goodbye, and Seth walked out the front door, got in his car, and drove off.

He parked his car on the side of the road, in front of a rather average-looking two-story house. He looked at it for a good minute before getting out of his car and walking up to the gate, looking at the top floor. None of the lights were on. He walked over to the side fence and saw a soft light glowing in one of the upstairs windows. He could barely make out an _Across the Universe_ poster. That was her room, all right.

He bent down and picked up a few small pebbles from the side driveway, then tried the gate. It was locked. He shrugged, and climbed over the fence.

He took aim and threw the first pebble. It landed harmlessly on the roof.

A little harder this time. He took aim and tossed another one.

Plink. Plink.

Via looked over at her window. Another tap. She set down her book and glanced out the window. Seth waved exuberantly up at her. She pulled her window open and leaned out. "Seth? Is that you?" she said quietly, hoping not to wake her parents.

"You left before I could say bye," he explained, looking up at her.

Via smiled at him. She opened her mouth to say something, but her train of thought was quickly derailed by a light turning on in the hall. "My parents!" she said in a hushed tone down to him.

Seth watched as she drew the curtains shut. Two seconds later, he saw her bedroom light turn on. He sighed and looked around, waiting for her to come back to the window. His eyes fell on the wooden latticework along the side of the house.

"Yeah, just got a little stuffy in here," Via explained. "I think you're hearing voices."

Via's mother gave her an amused look. "Well, just thought I'd check and make sure, I suppose. Good night, Love."

"Goodnight, Mum," Via said. Once the hall light turned off, she tossed her book down on the bed and dashed back to the window, throwing open the curtains.

"Seth? Where are you?" She squinted into the darkness, trying to spot him lurking behind one of the trees. She jumped back slightly when she saw his hands grip the edge of the roof. He pulled himself up and crawled towards her window. She smiled broadly. "I take it you didn't just come here to say goodnight..." She stepped back to let him in.

"Not exactly," he said as he crawled in through the window.

"Well, tell me what's on your mind," she whispered, taking a step closer to him. "Just remember that we have to be... _quiet_..."

"Well..." he started softly, realizing he'd forgotten everything he was planning on saying to her, "I just.. I really wanted to... no, I needed to— I... I just thought I'd try what I talked about in my speech..."

Via thought back to Seth's valedictorian speech. A particular part in which he talked about taking bold risks jumped out in her mind. She looked back into his eyes.

"I just think you're amazing, Via... maybe I waited too long to say that, but I know that I just had to let you know tonight, and I'll totally understand if you don't–"

Via hushed him by putting a finger to his lips. "You know, sometimes silence can be more powerful than words..."

Seth smiled and slowly leaned forward. Via shut her eyes and leaned in, and kissed him passionately, putting her hands on his sides as he placed his left hand on her cheek.

When they slowly pulled apart, she smiled up at him, at a loss for words. He grinned back until she finally broke the silence. "I think my mum's still up..." She strained her ears, trying to hear if her mother was coming down the hall again.

Seth nodded reluctantly. "Maybe I should go... I'm just glad I got to tell you what you mean to me..."

Via grinned again, still not sure what to say. "I will see you tomorrow, won't I?" she half-pleaded as he started to climb out the window.

"Of course," he said, pausing to smile back at her reassuringly. He climbed all the way out the window, and stopped at the edge of the roof.

"Is something wrong?" Via asked hesitantly, looking at him with a worried expression.

"Yeah, it's just..." he turned around and looked at her sheepishly. "It didn't take..."

A small smile crept its way onto Via's face. She slowly climbed out the window and stepped onto the roof. They walked towards each other, and she reached up and put her hands on his cheeks and kissed him again. He let his hands rest on her hips as they deepened the kiss, losing themselves in the night.

When they pulled apart, Via saw a wide grin on Seth's face. "Yeah. That did it."

She giggled and slowly backed towards her window. "I'll see you tomorrow, Seth..."

"See you tomorrow, Via..." He sighed and watched her climb back into her bedroom before slowly lowering himself onto the latticework and climbing down to the ground.

Via sighed and laid down on her bed, thinking of everything that had happened in the past 12 hours.

Tia was silly to be worried about the future...

...as far as she was concerned, this was going to be the best summer ever.


End file.
